REASONABLE FAITH

By definition, faith is unreasonable. According to Hebrews faith is "being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you cannot see." Faith defies reason.

"Sensless. Impractical. Totally unsound." These are words that dictionary.com uses to define the word crazy. Faith seems to me to have a lot to do with crazy!!

A few years ago I became the Lead Pastor of a small church in Bluffton, South Carolina. As I started my new responsibilities I knew that God was going to require more faith of me. More faith to lead others. More faith to direct the church. More faith to guide my family. More faith to follow Jesus. As the church began hitting some snags along the way my faith was shaken, but I wouldn't say it was challenged. Crises don't seem to shake my faith, though I really don't want a severe crisis to test that. For sure they seem to knock it around a bit, but to my surprise, what has challenged my faith more than anything has been asking God for the impossible.

God, there is no way we will get enough money ...God, there is no way people are going to show up ...God, there is no way this vision is going to work ...God, this vision is too big for me ...

You see, I've always struggled with the idea of reasonable faith. It's an oxymoron, I know, because faith is, well ... it's unreasonable. That being said, I would never run out into the middle of a busy street and kneel down before a moving truck on faith that God would protect me. It's unreasonable. As a pastor of a church that struggles to make ends meet, I would never run in front of the church and ask the people to give to a $10 million dollar project. It's unreasonable.

And so I find myself seeing the limits of my faith stretched. Where does reasonable faith cross into unreasonable faith? At what point does "healthy" faith jump ship and become "crazy" faith?

I think about David rushing out to fight a giant with a sling and a few rocks. Unreasonable, right? If not, then how about Elijah challenging hundreds of false prophets, confident that God will rain fire from heaven. Fire. From heaven. Is that reasonable? Come on, would you believe God would rain fire down at your request? How about Joshua asking the sun to stand still? Unreasonable. It defies science! It's impractical! It's senseless! It's totally unsound! It's CRAZY!

And yet God not only answered their requests, he rewarded their unreasonable faith!

And then there's Peter. Poor Peter. The disciples see Jesus walking on the water and they are terrified, but Peter calls out and says, "Jesus, if you want me to come out there, call me out and I'm there!" So Jesus calls him. You know the story, of course. As Pete walks on the water he takes his eyes off Jesus and begins to sink, to which Jesus says, "You have so little faith!"

We applaud Peter for getting out of the boat, I mean, the rest of the disciples just sat there, but even in doing the unreasonable thing, the crazy thing, walking on the water, Jesus tells Peter there's more! It's as if He is saying, "Peter ... you almost had it! Think of what you could have done if you just had more faith!"

Reasonable faith. As if getting out of the boat and walking on the water is reasonable! Then Jesus blows the whole thing up, as if he's saying, "If you think walking on the water is crazy, then you have no idea what unreasonablefaith looks like!"

A little later Jesus would ask something even more unreasonable of us as His followers. He would ask if we would be willing to follow him at all costs. Follow a man who claimed to be a deity, died a criminal's death, was rumored to be raised from the dead and seen by hundreds. And not just follow Him, but BELIEVE in Him ... When I look at it that way, walking on the water does seem reasonable.

Sure of what you hope for. Certain of what you cannot see. Senseless. Impractical. Totally unsound. Crazy. Faith.